


What You Mean To Me

by Anonymous



Category: Boruto: Naruto Next Generations
Genre: Boruto "i make things harder for myself" Uzumaki, Boruto's birthday, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Fluff, M/M, Misunderstandings, Mitsuki is a fast learner, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Shenanigans, boruto looks forward to celebrating his birthday with everyone and is sad, cant run from those gay thoughts boruto, i must provide, idk how else to tag this, theres so few borumitsu fics in this fandom
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-02-03
Updated: 2019-02-13
Packaged: 2019-10-21 17:49:53
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 6,469
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17647112
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/
Summary: “Hey, Mitsuki.” said Boruto, stifling a yawn.“Yeah Boruto?” replied Mitsuki.“You know, I’m glad. That, if anything, you’re at least still here with me.”“Of course Boruto, I couldn’t imagine myself anywhere else.”“You can’t go anywhere, okay? Don’t leave me.”“Anything for you.”“Good.” Boruto was satisfied, the lulls of sleep enrapturing him. “I don’t think I could handle it if you weren’t here.”“I don’t think I could either.” Mitsuki’s reply came, faraway sounding as Boruto faded away to sleep.Boruto wasn’t sure if it was his imagination, be he thought he felt something gently hold his hand. He liked to imagine he squeezed back, and in his dream he smiled.





	1. Chapter 1

Boruto hadn’t given romance much thought before. It wasn’t that he  _ wasn’t _ interested, he was a healthy young boy who didn’t see himself alone  _ in the future _ . It was that he had other things to be more focused on, like training and studying, and if someone wasn’t able to capture his attention during all of, well, everything, then they probably weren’t going to for quite a while yet, if ever. But that was alright, because he still had plenty of growing up to do, and he could find a partner later.

Romance wasn’t in his immediate sight, but he didn’t give it much thought in the first place. Besides, it wasn’t like he was really interested with any of the other girls that he already knew. He had an inkling of suspicion that, after the way too close call of an almost kiss with Sarada, most everyone, including their parents, believed that he and the Uchiha would become romantically involved at some point. He wasn’t a dense idiot like his dad, he only heard so many horror stories of the obliviousness of his dad when it came to his mom, but he inwardly cringed at the thought of being with Sarada.

She wasn’t a bad person, and when it came down to it she was a pretty good friend he knew he could trust, but she wasn’t the type that he wanted to spend the rest of his forever with. Who he wanted, he didn’t know, or rather he hadn’t decided yet, hadn’t really developed any feelings for anyone, but at this point he already knew that none of the girls in his old academy class were his  _ type  _ so to say.

But again, he wasn’t in any rush to find a relationship, and was more than completely fine with working towards his dream to become someone like Sasuke Uchiha. Plus, he had more important things to worry about, like Mitsuki.

It hadn’t been long since they rescued Mitsuki, or rather brought him back. On paper, Mitsuki was rescued, but to everyone else, where it really mattered, Mitsuki had been thrown into his own situation by everyone and had to rescue and find himself. It had been because of them, of Boruto, that Mitsuki had an existential crisis and had to find himself, away from them, the village, Boruto.

The guilt gnawed at him, because he had been seen as Mitsuki’s closest friend, even had him meet his  _ family _ , but when push came to shove he hardly knew a thing about the golden eyed boy, hadn’t even so much as tried and instead focused on himself completely, having Mitsuki follow along with every whim without even a whisper of complaint.

Mitsuki had always been there for him, and Boruto had taken it for granted, and didn’t notice anything until it was too late.

Boruto had heard the stories of his father’s youth, when he was Boruto’s age, and his intense relationship with Sasuke, always so focused on the other and their growth, and knowing each other better than anyone else. And thought he failed numerous times, Naruto fought for his friend until the very end, and from the very beginning. In this aspect, too, he was not like his dad.

The whole Land of Earth experience left an impression on him. He never wanted to lose any of his friends, and was diligent in looking out for them like with Sumire, but Mitsuki was different. Mitsuki always seemed so strong, so smart, so diligent, and always by his side, more of a shadow than Shikadai’s signature jutsu, all to the point Boruto didn’t feel like he had to worry about him, especially as the golden eyed boy seemed to hang on his every word, and heed every bit of advice, and even opening his eyes when the situation called for it in his own strange Mitsuki way. He didn’t have to worry, until he did.

Mitsuki had become a constant in his life without Boruto realizing it, so quickly but so so subtly, and when he was gone, Boruto felt so empty, like something was missing and it was  _ wrongwrongwrongwrongwrong- _

Realizing this, he didn’t want to give up on trying to get his friend back, and did anything and everything he could, even when everyone else, including Sarada, doubted it, doubted him, doubted Mitsuki. And through some miraculous stroke of luck, that wasn’t as so much luck but a great relief, they figured out the truth about Mitsuki and his turbulent feelings, at least a little, and Boruto vowed that this time he would make sure to really get to know his friend, and to appreciate him more.

And when Mitsuki smiled back at him, his spirits soared.

And then his heart skipped a beat, warmth flooded his body and he couldn’t seem to wipe the stupid smile off his face even if he wanted to. They had a long way to go, repercussions to face and all that, but it would be okay, more than okay.

That, of course, had been weeks ago.

Truthfully, Boruto wasn’t sure on how to breach the subject. Mitsuki was as complacent as ever, an ever present smile on his face and back to his Boruto watching ways, and hadn’t needed any reassurance on how he was every bit a person with a free like Boruto, because he had already figured it out on his little venture. Mitsuki also didn’t really have any issue with his parent, and instead actually lived on his own with regular meetups with Orochimaru on his own free time. He was already talented, strong, smart, and so sure of himself for who he was and what he felt that Boruto was actually at a loss for what to say or do, because Mitsuki himself hadn’t changed, but if they kept this up Boruto was worried his friend would have another existential crisis.

Mitsuki’s existence seemed to revolve around Boruto’s, and if there had been any change Boruto would have to say that Mitsuki was more concentrated on him than ever, and it was all to tempting and easy to fall back on the self centered lifestyle he had been leading. Mitsuki was like his worshipper, and Boruto couldn’t exactly refute any claims that insinuated that he enjoyed it, because the truth of it was that he did like it, a lot. 

He liked the attention, because it made him feel important and noticed, and he knew that from Mitsuki’s perspective he wasn’t seeing Boruto as Naruto’s son like so many did, bewildered that he didn’t want to be Hokage like everyone else, but as himself. He knew of the little things that Boruto liked, and after getting used to his admittedly strange behavior, Mitsuki was nice companionship, and those quirks that had unnerved him slightly before like all the staring had become comforting. 

They had become close, with Mitsuki indulging Boruto in his childish antics without a sliver of judgement that anyone else would have, but at the same time they were still stuck in the same spot, because it always became about Boruto in the end and it was just an endless loop because Boruto  _ still _ didn’t know anything about Mitsuki.

And so, Boruto was confront with this dilemma.

It wasn’t like he hadn’t  _ tried _ anything, because he had. If there was anything that he  _ had _ inherited from his dad, it was his stubbornness, but then again he might have gotten that from his mom, because she could also be a very stubborn person, more so than his dad who would also have no other choice but  _ submit _ , and thinking back on it now, he hoped he inherited it from his mom, but that wasn’t the point here. The issue was no matter what he did, it backfired.

Firstly, he started off strong. He was blunt, and straight to the point, and at the time Mitsuki conceded, and they had a moment of acceptance. Sarada came by then, and the three of them knew that whatever happened from then on they would be okay, but from there he didn’t know what to say, what could be said? So he decided to start small, and asked what kind of foods Mitsuki liked and if there was any certain place Mitsuki wanted to go to. 

Boruto knew that focusing on materialistic things was not the way to go, but something was better than nothing, and hopefully that would be the catalyst that would allow them to start to get to know each other.

Mitsuki had given it some thought, but then quickly settled on the burger joint that Boruto enjoyed. Boruto was confounded, knew that Mitsuki didn’t share nearly the same amount of enthusiasm when it came to eating at that place, but Mitsuki was firm in his decision, especially as he admitted that it grew on him, and was more special to him than other places, and at that Boruto gave in, because how could he refute  _ that _ ? And that was when the dreaded loop began.

From then on, Boruto tried to get Mitsuki to choose what they did first, and Boruto didn’t know if he was just that easy to read, or if Mitsuki had just grown that accustomed to Boruto’s tastes, but it always ended up with Boruto enjoying himself so much he forgot about the point having Mitsuki choose, and only remembering once Mitsuki’s surprisingly bright smile was out of sight.

Many times, with others or just the two of them, he had tried, and especially with trying new things like going ice skating or going to the movie theatre and picking a random movie, or training, or having Mitsuki over at his place and playing with Himawari. As it was growing to be expected, he didn’t learn anything more about Mitsuki than he did before. 

At some point, Boruto even debated following Mitsuki to see what the snake boy did in his free time by himself. He quickly realized it was futile, because Mitsuki seemed to spend his every waking moment with Boruto as much as he possibly could, so that went down the drain. If he had to pinpoint the moment his optimism took a hard blow, it would have to that exact moment. In every sense of the word, minus actually admitting it, Boruto had given up. He of course kept up with spending time with the boy with his new ideas, but trying something new had all but flown out the window. They talked about training, about missions, about Boruto’s family, and practically everything Boruto could think of under the sun while doing whatever they had to or wanted to do. At least until turn of the new year and Boruto’s birthday was quickly approaching on the horizon.

It was almost funny to think that a year ago he wasn’t looking all too forward to his birthday, not expecting much, as he still wasn’t especially close with Sarada and while he was, begrudgingly, hopeful that his father would be there he knew he would be saddled with disappointment, and he had been proven correct. Mitsuki was there, but again they weren’t especially close, even if the devotion was not unwelcome, if still slightly unsettling. But now, he was looking forward to it.

Well, he still wasn’t expecting much from his dad, but at least they were on better terms now. That probably helped his outlook.

For the first time since his dads inauguration, he was actually looking forward to his birthday, until he wasn’t.

It started small, and hardly noticeable, but he supposed that’s how most unpleasant things started. He had been walking with Mitsuki when they ran into Sumire in town, and she had mentioned that her team would be leaving for a two week mission the next day, and Boruto was a bit disappointed because he wanted to hang out with his friends on the afternoon of his birthday, but it was fine because they saw each other often enough already and it wasn’t like anything was planned, and life went on.

Next to happen was for Metal Lee to mention that Guy and Rock Lee had been planning a training excursion and he would be joining them. It had been something that was in the works for a while, and would work fine with their schedules as Denki had to go on a trip with his family to visit family in the Land of Lightning at that same time, and Iwabei in the meantime would be trained by Udon and would be the only one of the trio to be staying in the village when Boruto’s birthday passed. It was a blow, but Boruto could work with that. It was fine.

And then Chocho mentioned she was also going to be traveling to the Land of Lightning to visit family on her mom’s side of the family and  _ wasn’t that great? _ And Shikadai apologized to Boruto, sighing as he mentioned that he was going to be traveling with his mom to visit his mom’s side of the family in the Land of Wind, and  _ no he couldn’t stay with his dad his mom was very adamant he come along to know his family more _ , and that was a blow because Shikadai was actually one of his closest friends. Inojin, of course, had all his family in the village and didn’t need to leave to see family, so out of that team he would be the only one in the village when Boruto’s birthday passed.

It was fine, he was  _ fine _ , until Sarada’s mom was notified she would have to go on a mission, and she got so worked up over having to leave Sarada alone for so long that it was only quelled by Chocho’s sudden insistence to bring Sarada with them when they went to the Land of Lightning, backed by her dad who went along with her whims, to the point Sakura wouldn’t have been able to say no if she wanted to.

Boruto felt fucking  _ fantastic _ , thank you very much. At this point, the only people who would be celebrating his birthday with him in any shape, way, or form would be his mom, Himawari, Inojin, Iwabei, and Mitsuki, and while there was nothing wrong with that, he couldn’t just ignore the sting of disappointment, but he would live.

Then, because of so many able bodied ninja suddenly leaving or already on missions, Iwabei and Inojin were tossed together with another stray genin to go on a mission, and at that point Boruto could only be grateful for his  _ luck _ that somehow Mitsuki was still going to be there, and his mom, and his sister, and that was fine because he didn’t really celebrate with a lot of people in the first place. Somehow, he got the inkling that the only reason he and Mitsuki weren’t off doing who knows what was probably because of their unique dispositions, what with not only Mitsuki being the son of Orochimaru and Boruto being the son of the current Hokage, but also Mitsuki’s fixation on Boruto that could really only be tolerated by Boruto, and the fact Boruto’s birthday was very soon.

“I mean, seriously? Is this like family visiting season or something?” Boruto cried frustrated. “Like I get if one or two people aren’t here, but everyone?”

Mitsuki hummed. “Well, we are ninja. We signed up for this and who knows when we’ll see our families again.”

Boruto deflated. “I guess, but this is a time of peace! Even Inojin and Iwabei…” Boruto kicked a stray can down the path they walked.

“Is it, really? Then what’s that mark on your hand?” Mitsuki questioned. Boruto subconsciously closed his fist and glanced away. “But either way, I think it’s because peacekeeping is a lot of work, probably.”

“I bet.” said Boruto. “I just don’t understand. But honestly…” Boruto frowned, but was prompted to continue by Mitsuki’s inquisitive stare. “I don’t know if I want to understand. Being a ninja and protecting the village and helping people is great and all but sometimes it just kind of sucks. Like look at what happened with Itachi.”

“Itachi? Like Itachi Uchiha, the deceased uncle of Sarada? The one who killed the entire Uchiha clan in one night except Sasuke?”

“Yeah, him.” Boruto affirmed. “I guess you don’t know, since they don’t really like to share this, but he was ordered to kill his family in order to secure the peace and safety of the village. Ironic, isn’t it? They were the police force, and they were deemed a danger. But I guess those elders weren’t off the mark since apparently Itachi had relayed that the Uchiha were planning a coup. All for the sake of peace.” Boruto frowned harder. “Sometimes this world kind of really sucks. You know, the only reason he accepted that mission was so he could save his brother, otherwise Sasuke would have been killed too. Can you imagine that? He even let Sasuke believe he was evil so he would be driven to get stronger by his desire to get rid of Itachi, who loved him despite everything.”

“I think…” Mitsuki trailed off, looking deep in thought, a rare contemplative emotion on his face. “If it were me, and it was my only choice to save you, I would. Do what he did.” 

Boruto stared at him, a myriad of feelings tumbling inside him as the words soaked in.

“Don’t joke about that.” he settled on. “That’s in poor taste.”

But after that, he felt himself flush a little, though unsure of why. Mitsuki just gave him his trademarked smile, and Boruto felt himself flush a little more, adamantly looking away. He often found himself doing that more often nowadays, though he wasn’t sure why.

“But uh, thanks I guess? But don’t do that, seriously.”

They lapsed back into silence, continuing to walk down the darkened street, heading towards nowhere in particular. Neither of them had a curfew and were in no hurry to separate anytime soon. In fact, often they’d spend the night together and one of their places, and Boruto had a feeling that Mitsuki would probably be staying over at his place for the night. He didn’t mind, wouldn’t keep the odd tradition up if he did, and instead found it comforting. They were actually becoming more frequent, and more often than not Boruto found himself getting restless when they spent the night apart. What it meant, Boruto wasn’t sure, but he liked to think of them getting closer somehow.

Though they had no set time for when they had to head back, they found themselves turning on the street that Boruto’s house was on, and Boruto’s suspicions were proven correct and Mitsuki continued to follow him inside, long past the slightly awkward pleasantries that often came with overnight stays. The lights were off, indicating that either his mom and his sister weren’t home, or they were asleep, but as they made their way to Boruto’s room the two of them heard soft breathing as they passed Boruto’s parents room and his sister’s room, indicating that they were indeed asleep.

As quietly as they respectively could, both Mitsuki and Boruto got ready for bed, taking care to be really quiet when moving around the house when needed to use the bathroom or brush their teeth, and soon found themselves tucking themselves in bed, a few lighthearted jabs here and there, up until they turned off the lights a lapsed into another, calmer silence, where their breathing evened out and were on the edge of falling asleep.

Boruto let his hand dangle off the side of his bed, as he always did, his mind slowly glazing over with the promise of sleep, and knew that Mitsuki must be feeling something the same. And because of his half conscious state, his mind thought it a good time for it to be honesty hour. 

“Hey, Mitsuki.” said Boruto, stifling a yawn.

“Yeah Boruto?” replied Mitsuki.

“You know, I’m glad. That, if anything, you’re at least still here with me.”

“Of course Boruto, I couldn’t imagine myself anywhere else.”

“You can’t go anywhere, okay? Don’t leave me.”

“Anything for you.”

“Good.” Boruto was satisfied, the lulls of sleep enrapturing him. “I don’t think I could handle it if you weren’t here.”

“I don’t think I could either.” Mitsuki’s reply came, faraway sounding as Boruto faded away to sleep.

Boruto wasn’t sure if it was his imagination, be he thought he felt something gently hold his hand. He liked to imagine he squeezed back, and in his dream he smiled.


	2. a

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> the birthday gods are cruel

Boruto didn’t think things could get any worse, but as the saying went, anything that can go wrong will go wrong.

His day started out like any other. Well, almost. The night before he and Mitsuki had stayed up late secretly playing video games after having spent the entire day before helping out people in the village. It had been Mitsuki’s idea, the helping thing, and when the day came to an end, Boruto felt they should unwind and do something fun, and so they did. They bought a few treats, then waited for the lights to go out in Boruto’s home, then waited a little more to make sure everyone would be asleep, and then snuck into Boruto’s room from his window.

His mom may love him, and his birthday may have just been the next day, but she might actually murder him if she knew not only did he miss dinner on purpose, he was also filling his body with all sorts of junk. Either that or have a heart attack, and either option was not desirable, so the only reasonable root to take was to sneak in.

And so, he and Mitsuki spent the night before playing video games on his bed, and at some point fell asleep, so when Boruto woke up, he was met with the rare relaxed face of Mitsuki, and felt his heart skip a funny beat as he lay still, transfixed on the sight before him. He had seen a sleeping Mitsuki before, it wasn’t anything he paid much attention to before, especially since Mitsuki also tended to go to sleep after he did, and woke up earlier in the morning. That and, they never slept just a breath away from each other. This was new, strange, unfamiliar, but not  _ unwelcome _ . And if Boruto spent a few minutes, staying like that, well, nobody needed to know.

During the day, Mitsuki was practically unreadable, and the only reason Boruto knew anything about Mitsuki was through his actions, no matter how obscure they were. Now, however, there was nothing to read but the peace on his face soothed Boruto. 

His eyelids his his eyes from the world, but the memory of the color behind them was engraved into his memory. His eyelashes were long, longer than he expected, and his nose curved to an attractive bump and- were his lips always soft looking? Was that why girls were always so obsessed with taking care of their bodies and tending to their faces? If so, he could definitely understand why now. He noticed that a few strands of Mitsuki’s pale hair had haphazardly scattered over his even paler skin of his face, and felt the urge to brush them aside, so he did.

Of course, as stated before, anything that could go wrong would go wrong, and as Boruto was tucking what he could gently behind Mitsuki’s ear, Mitsuki woke up and Boruto froze. 

And maybe the birthday gods decided to have a little mercy, because even though Boruto was practically cupping Mitsuki’s face, Mitsuki didn’t freak out but instead smiled a smile so soft and bright that Boruto’s mind went blank before engraving  _ that _ into his memory. Mitsuki’s eyes crinkled and Boruto could feel his heart thud, the blood rushing to his face. Then Boruto decided the aforementioned merciful birthday gods were not actually merciful but instead very cruel, because if Boruto wasn’t killed by that scene before, he definitely was now with Mitsuki’s first words.

“Good morning, Boruto. Happy birthday.” Mitsuki’s breath was warm against his face, and strangely didn’t stink, probably thanks to his synthetic human status.

“G-good morning.” Boruto stuttered, eyes wide. He gulped, unsure of what to do next. On one hand, he didn’t want this moment to end, he could admit that to himself at least, but on the other hand… Well, he didn’t want to make this awkward, but really he could run through the village wearing a clown outfit wearing high heels and not only would Mitsuki be the only person not judging him but he would indulge him and probably ask if he wanted something more.

But surely Mitsuki  _ must _ have limits.

So, in a brilliant moment of clarity, Boruto decided to let his hand drop. That, of course, Boruto regretted immediately because now he really was cupping Mitsuki’s face and not just barely hovering awkwardly, and wow Mitsuki was a lot warmer than he thought-  _ now was not the time brain _ . Then, to make matters worse. His thumb brushed against Mitsuki’s bottom lip, and wow that was soft he wondered what that would feel like against his own-  _ this was really not the time brain, what the actual fuck _ .

Boruto felt like he was going to spontaneously combust. He’s heard of that before, where people just suddenly light on fire. Was that going to happen to him now? God he hoped so, because he just kept making everything worse and worse.

“Is something wrong, Boruto? You’re looking a little red.” said Mitsuki, and with that he placed a hand on Boruto’s forehead, a small  cute frown etched on his face when he checked, and suddenly they were in a more intimate position than before, and wow Boruto really died hadn’t he? Here lies Boruto, death by intimacy, may his soul find peace; that what’s going to written on his gravestone.

Boruto fainted.

When Boruto awoke again, he wondered if it had actually all been a dream, because when he looked around everything had been cleaned and he was securely tucked into bed this time and not haphazardly lying on it, but then Mitsuki came in with a steaming bowl of something and Boruto realized that there was no futon out and his room was a little  _ too _ clean and he never slept so perfectly without messing with the sheets. Of course, having that all be a dream would be too merciful, and he couldn’t be having that on his  _ birthday _ of all days.

“Oh good, you’re awake.” Mitsuki said, making his way to Boruto. Awkwardly, Boruto sat up, and he was about to move to get out of bed when Mitsuki sat down, and the pushed the tray of what looked like to be rice porridge on his lap, and place a hand on Boruto’s forehead, and Boruto felt very warm again.

“When you passed out I worried you might be sick like your mom and sister, so I went to make something easy for you to eat and took your temperature again. You seem fine, but since your family is sick I didn’t want to take any chances.” Mitsuki explained. Boruto blinked in response. His family was sick?

“Himawari-”

“Is fine, I assure you.” reassured Mitsuki. “Your mom called your aunt earlier and went to the Hyuga compound with Himawari. Since you’re okay and I’m here, she didn’t want to wake you. If you’re up for it, we can go see them, but first you should eat something.”

“Ah, yeah. Thanks Mitsuki.” Boruto said.

Any embarrassment he felt before had been dutifully washed away in favor of worrying over his family, but more than that he felt a prickle of  _ something _ he couldn’t quite describe but left him frustrated. It wasn’t their fault, he knew this, but despite Mitsuki’s offer he didn’t want to go see him mom and sister right then. It was probably for the best if they were sick; he’d only impede on their recovery if he went then, not letting them rest. From past experience he knew that if he rested well enough in the morning and through a good part of the afternoon, he would feel better than if he was preoccupied with something like school, and while he really didn’t want to compare himself to an education institution, considering it was his birthday today his family would probably feel pressured, and he didn’t want that.

Still, that unpleasant feeling that nagged at him stayed, leaving a bitter taste on his tongue. It distinctly reminded him of how he felt on the new parent-child holiday.

He wasn’t okay. He knew what he wanted, but he knew what he had to do, too. So he couldn’t have what he wanted, so what? He was used to it. It wouldn’t kill him- yeah he really needed to get out before he got caught up in those feelings again.

Stomach full, and freshly dressed into something more appropriate for going out, he found himself leaving his house with Mitsuki, not entirely sure of where to go from there.

“Is something wrong Boruto? Are you not feeling well after all?” Mitsuki worried, seeing as Boruto didn’t move from the front door.

“Ah, no, I’m fine.” Boruto said. “Just, I don’t want to go there right now, grandpa’s place, you know? They’re sick and I don’t want to bother them- they should just focus on getting better.” he told Mitsuki honestly.

“I understand.” said Mitsuki, not skipping a beat. “Is there any place you want to go, then?”

“Hmm, not really.”

“How about the new arcade that opened in town recently?” suggested Mitsuki. Boruto perked up at that.

“Arcade, what? What new arcade?” Boruto asked.

“The one the Kaminarimon company made in joint with some other company. It’s a little early, but there shouldn’t be a lot of people there if we go now.” answered Mitsuki.

“Well what are we waiting for? Let’s go!”

Stationed in a newer part of town, where businesses that seemed suspiciously show and merchandise focused gathered, the arcade stood out flashily. Doors that seemed to shine, with large clean windows that seemed to sparkle, hiding nothing of the bright lights and neon themes of the games that sparked inside. It took a while to find, but once they found it Boruto grinned, giddy with excitement, mind focused on winning as Mitsuki observed next to him.

“I’m surprised you hadn’t heard of it before, it’s been pretty popular. It has a lot of good ratings on it’s website.” said Mitsuki.

“It has a website?” Boruto asked.

“Most businesses do.” Mitsuki replied honestly, with a smile that Boruto had to remind himself was  _ not _ patronizing.

“Whatever,” Boruto said. “It’s not like I spend my free time looking up businesses websites or whatever.”

“You don’t?” Mitsuki asked, tilting his head curiously.

Boruto leveled a flat look at him.

“I don’t think anyone does, Mitsuki. You’re probably the only one who does.”

“Shikadai showed me.” answered Mitsuki. Boruto felt his eye twitch.

“Shikadai doesn’t count. He’s an outlier and should not be included.”

“I’ll keep that in mind.” Mitsuki smiled again, closing his eyes as if satisfied. Suddenly, Boruto was reminiscent of earlier that morning, and he didn’t know why. He felt his face flush a bit, and resolutely decided to focus intently on the almost too gaudy building in front of them.

“Anyway, let’s just go in already. The day isn’t getting any younger.” Boruto huffed, trying to hide the pink on his cheeks as he stubbornly turned away.

“Right behind you Boruto.” said Mitsuki.

While the large windows did nothing to hide the grandiose and extravagantes of, well, everything, the view from the outside did not give it any justice to what was all inside. What could be seen from outside was only a small taste, a sample for the eyes with fancy and bold machines and large lettering, with the faint sound of music to be heard by the average passerby, but inside was a different story.

Inside there were sections, often the multiple of the same machines, though there were no two same crane machines. Turning around a corner after walking in for a bit, a prize counter could be seen, practically bursting with ridiculous prizes built on a point system. At the counter was a worn and tired looking employee, despite the vast emptiness of the building, textbooks laid out on a glass casing that held, surprise, more prizes.

Oddly enough, in that moment, Boruto felt a sense of camaraderie with that person, or was the term solidarity? He wasn’t sure, but all he knew was he could relate. That person looked like how Boruto felt.

“May I help you?” the person asked, staring down at Boruto and Mitsuki when they approached. Boruto frowned, that person was ridiculously tall.

“Uh, yeah. Could we get some tokens?” Boruto asked, taking out his wallet.

“We don’t do tokens here.” the employee said.

“Huh? Then what do you use?” Boruto asked, dumbfounded.

“We run on a credit system.” said the employee. “You can go over to one of the computers over there to sign up and make a free account, and when you’re done it’ll make a personalized card for you, of which you can bring over here to fill it with however much money you’d like to use as credits, that you can use on any game in the building. Any points you get will be automatically added to your account, of which you can accumulate for prizes, instead of tickets.”

“Oh, okay. I see, thanks.” Boruto said, surprised. “Let’s go, Mitsuki.”

The computers available for use were clunkier that the ones Boruto was used to, but they managed to do the job just fine, and only moments after he finished registering did he notice a small slot in the rest of the machine, which produced a slim new card, and took it. When they went back to the counter, Mitsuki and Boruto split money on what should be loaded.

“What should we do first Boruto?” asked Mitsuki. 

Boruto hummed, not sure of what to choose. He couldn’t exactly ask Mitsuki that, because he knew that the white haired boy was a lot more willing to follow along his whims than choose something himself, and they’d just be back to square one again, so his eyes gazed at their surroundings, flitting over the various machines and games before focusing on a bike game of sorts and grinning.

“Let’s race.” Boruto grinned at Mitsuki. Mitsuki looked surprised in reply before smiling back, just as determined.

The controls for the game weren’t hard at all, but they were really sensitive to how they tilted on the machines. Mitsuki fared better at it than him, and after Boruto got his ass beat a few rounds they decided to play some sort of shooting game based off some popular movie, where Boruto was significantly more attuned with than Mitsuki. 

“I don’t understand,” Mitsuki frowned, aiming his gun and readjusting every other second. “This doesn’t feel right.”

“Tsk tsk tsk, it’s not about aim, not really, but technique Mitsuki.” Boruto said, feeling proud after his rather brutal defeat at racing. “You have much to learn.”

Mitsuki frowned. “This doesn’t feel quite right. Are you sure?”

“Mitsuki Mitsuki Mitsuki,” Boruto sighed dramatically. “Of course I am. After all, I’m doing quite fine. See? Just watch.”

At that, Boruto picked up his weapon again, starting another round, taking note that Mitsuki was watching, and shot at the screen. His score wasn’t perfect, but it was damn good.

“Now you try.” Boruto set his gun down and insisted Mitsuki try it with a flourish of his hand. For another bit of extra flair, Boruto even bowed a little with a grin.

Mitsuki looked contemplative before picking up the plastic gun, then took the same stance Boruto had moments earlier, and started another round. The now overly familiar cheap grinding build up music played before it faded off to more miscellaneous sounds so the game took on a more realistic approach. Not that it made any significance with the backdrop of dings and more upbeat Jeopardy like music from their surroundings.

Then, Mitsuki pulled the trigger. Again. And again. And again. And again.

Soon enough, the timer went off and the game quickly calculated the score. When it popped up Boruto paled. It hadn’t been as good as what he had just done, but it was far too close to his best score for comfort.

“Ah, I see,” Mitsuki said. “I think I’m getting the hang of this now-”

“You know this game is great and all but it’s so last year I think we should go play that now.” Boruto fumbled, pointing to anywhere that wasn’t the shooting games.

“Dancing? But we still have-” “Race you there!” Boruto blurted and ran, leaving a confused Mitsuki in his wake.

As the saying went, Boruto had jumped out of the pot and into the fire. In a moment of panic he had run straight towards some dancing game, the one with arrows that had to be stomped on. Now the problem wasn’t that he was bad at the game, anyone with ninja training was generally light enough on their feet to do decently well, but on the ‘lightness on feet’ spectrum, Boruto tended to favor the ‘less light on feet’ side. Mitsuki on the other hand, his foil, was on the other end of that scale, and Boruto had seen up close many times just how elegant Mitsuki’s fighting style could be, and mentally had compared it to dancing, almost floating, flying even. 

And then Mitsuki had made it to Boruto’s side and Boruto didn’t know how to back out of this one this time after having spontaneously insisted on this game despite not having looked at exactly where he was pointing and then running blindly running towards it.

He was doing great thank you very much. He was spending his birthday  _ just great _ . He wasn’t going to humiliate himself at all, not a bit. He may or may not be just discovering that Mitsuki was probably better at hands on games than he was, and that was  _ fine _ . Perfectly fine.

“Looks like we get 3 songs.” said Mitsuki.

“Cool, we can do a best 2 out of 3.” said Boruto, his competitive streak poking its nasty little head again. Stupid. Not everything had to be a competition and now he was going to be even  _more_ aware of his loss if he loses. Which he wasn't, lose that is, except he might.

“I suppose we can.” hummed Mitsuki.

So, with a resigned shaky hand, Boruto swiped his card.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> borutos mood is a mood

**Author's Note:**

> aaaaaaaaaa


End file.
